Rundu — United Democratic Front Youth League (UDFYL) is requesting senior government officials whose children are said to have benefited from the Chinese scholarships to formally apologise to the nation for having taken bursaries meant for the poor.

Information and Publicity Secretary of UDFYL, Marius Uwu-Gaeb, calls on the "powers that be" to come out and say sorry to Namibian youths for having "robbed" them of their chance to gain an education.

"Sorry for taking the bursaries that were supposed to go to the needy," he said, adding that the senior officials could afford to send their children to universities of their choice.

The UDFYL also calls on Government to withdraw the bursaries.

"We want this whole thing pulled back."

Uwu-Gaeb said the saga has created bad publicity for the country, as, according to him, it has also attracted the attention of the international media. He cited an article over the scholarship that appeared in the New York Times under the title "China helps selected few and powerful in Namibia".

The UDFYL demanded that the bursaries be withdrawn and proper investigations be carried out to determine how the children of high-ranking officials got hold of the scholarships.